


Spin

by cynthia_arrow (thesilverarrow)



Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: M/M, morons using fireworks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-09
Updated: 2016-06-09
Packaged: 2018-07-13 22:50:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7141049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesilverarrow/pseuds/cynthia_arrow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>For a moment, just a flash through his brain, he lets himself think about how it really has become this </i>thing<i> he tries not to do instead of this easy way they always used to be.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Spin

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted to livejournal, many moons ago.
> 
> Let's put this way before either of them had a girl in the picture, mkay?

Frank doesn't remember whose genius idea it was to buy cheap-ass firecrackers from the roadside stand, but he blames Bob, and probably unfairly, mainly because Bob's grinning like a smug bastard every time a dud falls to the ground and refuses to spin. Even the ones that aren't duds make only a screeching whistle and skitter across the dark venue parking lot like they're as embarrassed for themselves as Frank is for lighting the little fuckers. He hasn't even made an attempt at the sketchy bottlerockets.  
  
Half an hour in, Ray's already wandered back onto the bus, and Mikey's texting somebody, but at least Gerard isn't mocking him. In fact, Gerard seems weirdly charmed by the whole enterprise, enough that Frank occasionally forgets and enjoys himself. It's beyond him how Gerard's enthusiasm is still so infectious to him, after all these years. Sometimes, Gerard will grin wide at him, and when he catches Frank grinning back he doesn't at all turn away from whatever thing it is that's building between them. He just crooks his mouth until his grin turns sly, or sometimes he does it just with his eyes, but it's an acknowledgment, one that Frank always comes just short of returning.  
  
Until tonight. Maybe it's because he's fucking worn out from the show, here near the end of a long tour, or maybe it's the way the adrenaline is still coursing through his veins every time he lights a fuse and jumps back. Whatever it is, he's a little less guarded about the whole thing than he would be normally. For a moment, just a flash through his brain, he lets himself think about how it really has become this _thing_ he tries not to do instead of this easy way they always used to be. Eventually, it began to mean a little too much, and it wasn't smart (fuck, _they_ weren't smart back then), so it _wasn't_ , period, at least not in real life. If it plays out at all, it's under lights and with a mic stand and a guitar between them.  
  
Tonight, though -- tonight, for some reason, he raises an eyebrow at Gerard as he unwraps the next string of miserable little discs, and when Gerard grins back at him from behind a cigarette, it's open and mysterious at the same time, like flirting. No, it _is_ flirting, and Frank chooses this moment to flirt back, which is actually nothing like groping somebody on stage and with a guitar between you. Now, it's just an intimate smile over a cheap cigarette lighter. He holds Gerard's gaze a little too long as he flicks the lighter and lights the fuse --  
  
\-- and promptly tries to burn his motherfucking fingers off.  
  
As he howls and drops the lighter, Bob's smirking again. Frank has a silent conversation with Mikey about whether the first aid kit is needed (it _isn't_ , goddammit, but, yeah, okay, _ow_ ), and in the meantime, Gerard sneaks up on him. Before Frank knows it, Gerard's standing in front of him and grabbing his hand, holding his finger up so he can examine it closely in the weird orange light from their bus.  
  
Frank's looking off over the parking lot toward the headlights racing down the freeway until he realizes Gerard's looking intently not at his hand, now, but his face.  
  
When Frank finally meets his eyes, he can feel his face flush for no good fucking reason.  
  
"What?" Frank murmurs, reflexively training his gaze back over Gerard's shoulder.  
  
But Gerard doesn't answer, just waits patiently for him to look at him again. As soon as he does -- and he has to; he can't help it -- Gerard brings Frank's fingers up to his mouth and kisses them softly without for a second breaking eye contact.  
  
He does it fast, and his back is to the others, but Frank still blushes even more, enough that Gerard kind of smirks at him before he takes the lighter out of his hand and drifts away.  
  
"My turn," Gerard says, his voice open and public again, pulling Mikey and Bob back into the scene.  
  
For a moment, Frank has himself convinced that Bob and Mikey have no idea what just happened (hell, Frank's not even sure _he_ knows what just happened), but deep down he knows that neither one of those fuckers ever misses a thing.  
  
At least this time Bob hasn't. He gives Frank a funny little smile then calls out to Gerard, "Well, I hope for the sake of your fingers that Iero's less _distracting_ than you are."  
  
Gerard grins, at first a small, private smile but then he lets it go wide. "Well, at least it's a distraction I'm used to," he replies, grabbing a package of spinners and then spinning himself so that Frank can't see his eyes anymore, just the soft curve of his mouth as he smiles to himself and flicks the lighter.


End file.
